Best PlacesEast Arcadia, NC Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around East Arcadia, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
East Arcadia ranks 48,691st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and the cost of living against local pay is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in East Arcadia
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
East Arcadia's strengths and weaknesses
Where East Arcadia ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 91% of towns
- Cheap childcare$526 a month, better than 90% of towns
- Short commute23.1 minutes each way, better than 74% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 72% of towns
Where East Arcadia ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$35,392 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in East Arcadia
A household needs to earn about $54,000 a year to comfortably buy the median East Arcadia home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $35,392, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses East Arcadia's effective rate of 0.89%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in East Arcadia
East Arcadia's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for East Arcadia.
Who works in East Arcadia, and how
Work in East Arcadia centers on education and other services. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in East Arcadia
The coast is about 45 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across East Arcadia, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in East Arcadia, month by month
East Arcadia sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and September through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 46° | 37° |
| April | 76° | 64° | 53° |
| July | 92° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 77° | 65° | 56° |
Flying in and out of East Arcadia
The nearest airport, Wilmington International, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Raleigh-Durham International, about 106 miles away.
The best schools in and around East Arcadia
Schools across East Arcadia average a C−, better than 25% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Town Creek ElementaryB+ · 54% proficient
- Acme Delco ElementaryC · 33% proficient
- East Arcadia ElementaryF · 10% proficient
Top middle schools
- South Brunswick MiddleA− · 54% proficient
- Elizabethtown MiddleD · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Brunswick County Early CollegeA+ · 98% proficient
- East Bladen HighC+ · 40% proficient
- East Columbus Junior-senior HighC+ · 36% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every East Arcadia school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
East Arcadia measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare East Arcadia against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in East Arcadia
Is East Arcadia a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, East Arcadia ranks 48,691st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, state finances, and affordable childcare, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is East Arcadia expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $204,229. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $35,392 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is East Arcadia safe?
East Arcadia is safer than 7% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $692 per resident a year.
Compare East Arcadia with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to East Arcadia. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in East Arcadia represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
East Arcadia detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for East Arcadia: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in East Arcadia: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of East Arcadia: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in East Arcadia: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
East Arcadia detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.